Challenges lie ahead for Iraq's new government

BAGHDAD - Iraq seated a freely elected government Tuesday after nine months of haggling, bringing together the main ethnic and religious groups in a fragile balance that could make it difficult to rebuild a nation devastated by war as American troops prepare for their final withdrawal.

One of the government's first priorities will be to decide whether to ask the Obama administration to keep thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq after their scheduled departure in December 2011.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's new government solidifies the grip that Shiites have held on political power since Saddam Hussein's ouster. It leaves open the question of whether the country's disgruntled Sunni minority will play a meaningful role.

Despite tortuous negotiations that threatened to unravel the country's tenuous democratic gains, the public face of the new government will look remarkably like the outgoing one. The prime minister, president and foreign minister will remain the same.

The outcome was a huge victory for Maliki, who has made more than his share of enemies as prime minister since May 2006. Parliament originally tapped Maliki as a compromise candidate to lead Iraq following tumultuous elections in December 2005 during the height of the war.

The new government was sworn in Tuesday immediately after the Iraqi parliament voted to approve 34 Cabinet ministers including Maliki. The remainder of the 44-member Cabinet is made up of acting ministers who will be replaced at a later date because of ongoing disputes among coalition partners.

President Barack Obama praised Iraq for building an inclusive coalition that he described as "a clear rejection of the efforts by extremists to spur sectarian division."

Maliki hailed what he called a unified but diverse government, the creation of which was "the most difficult task in the world."

But even as he praised the new government, Maliki hinted at its weakness: the need to include all the major political factions as a way to preserve stability at the expense of efficiency.

"There were people whose parties have only one or two seats and even they were demanding a ministry," Maliki said. "So I know that nobody is satisfied with me."

Indeed, two groups blasted the new Cabinet even before it was sworn in.

The Kurdish splinter Goran party, which has only eight lawmakers, said it should have gotten more than the one Cabinet post it was offered and threatened to boycott the government. And female lawmakers jeered the male-dominated political parties for largely excluding them from the Cabinet though they make up a quarter of parliament.

"This government is not a strong one because it is built on sectarian divisions and self-interests," said Hassan al-Alawi, a leading member of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya coalition that won bragging rights by narrowly edging Maliki's bloc in the March 7 parliamentary election. "It is a fragile government."

Doing the work of the government ultimately may prove as hard as putting one together.

Experts said Iraq's top priority over the next few years is to control its vacillating levels of violence and protect itself from foreign threats. Sandwiched between Shiite majority Iran and Sunni Arab states, Iraq is a Mideast fault line for sectarian tensions and has weak borders.

Baghdad University political analyst Hadi Jalo said that factor alone should help Maliki gain the necessary support from parliament to ask U.S. troops to remain in Iraq past the December 2011 deadline outlined in a security agreement between Washington and Baghdad - should he choose to do so.

"Stability is the backbone for any other progress," Jalo said. "Al-Maliki knows that he cannot overcome any challenges while the security problem is not solved. This is the only way to win the trust of the people and the foreign investors."